[Verse 2]
Well, I heard that hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

[Verse 4]
There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

[Verse 5]
Well, God is in His heaven
And we all want what’s His
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I’m gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

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Perhaps the single greatest Dylan song never to make it to an album, this 1983 song survived as a bootleg for years before being released on the first volume of The Bootleg Series. The Spotify version above is the “real” one, while the YouTube version is an electric band out-take. Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits' frontman) provides the 12-string guitar lines. Dylan plays the black (sharp/flat) keys on the piano — as he loves to do.